Customer Reviews

Cassell's Italian Dictionary (Thumb-indexed Version): Italian-English English-Italian

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I have bought several Italian English dictionaries in the past. There are all different. Some have pictures, but then they do not have enough room and miss some every day words. They are good for beginners and some travellers. The other type of dictionary is the dry word for word transalation without giving you any examples on how that particular word could be used in a sentence. What I liked about Cassel's dictionary is that it addresses both points. First, it is over 1100 pages so you will find almost any word. Second, where appropriate, it gives examples of how to use the idiomatic type words. Any student of the Italian language knows that it is very easy to become frustrated by conjucations and the irregular verbs. That area is well covered here. However, if you really want to learn about Italian conjugations, read the "501 Italian Verbs by Colaneri and Luciani" There is also an appendix for words such as "wild cat strike" and "Warehousing" and slangs such as "floozie" and "flophouse" are also covered. So, this dictionary caters to your every need. The only complain that I have is that some pictures such as certain plants and architectural parts of the building would have made the book much better. All in all a great dictionary for all levels.

I bought this dictionary to use when working on vocal music in Italian. I've used other Cassell's dictionaries before, so I assumed this would be just as good. Unfortunately the Italian portion of the dictionary gives very little information about pronunciation. The author's lame excuse for this is that Italian is "almost phonetic" -- which is true, but the "almost" part of that statement is very important. For singers, it is very important to know what vowel to sing. In Italian, the letters E and O may be pronounced either open (as in the English words "get" and "cotton") or closed (roughly as in "gate" or "coat"). This is not a trivial difference; what's more, there are no 100% effective "rules" to tell you which version of the vowel to use in any given case. You have to.... that's right, consult a dictionary. Unfortunately this one is no help.

I've used this dictionary now for several weeks to prepare speeches on current events. I have found that the entries do not cover the "nuances" of meaning very well. And not all forms of the word are explored. For example, one can derive a noun, adjective and adverb out of most Italian verbs (although the meaning may not be what you exactly expect), and these variations are often ignored. I've replaced my 10-year-old paperback with this version, but will still seek out an unabridged Italian-English dictionary.

As an adult student of Italian, I am always looking for the perfect dictionary. I have small, medium, and very large versions from different publishers. This one is very good for finding some obscure words I am not finding in even my Garzanti Italian to Italian unabridged. The entries are by necessity brief, and if I have any questions I have other dictionaries to refer to. Print quality is excellent. There are few idiomatic entries however. Strongly recommend this for when you are stuck on a word in text, as you will in all likelihood find it here.

very helpful intro book carry this with me every trip here.
you can count it for quick words and simple quotes.

Ordered the dictionary on June 5, 2008. As of July 6, 2008, have not received the item. This is not the way to do business if you are ordering an item from a vendor that is supported by Amazon.